‘I became aware of my skin colour only when I got to drama school’
Shalom Brune-Franklin talks to Donal Lynch about racism, rejection and how to make long-distance relationships work
SHALOM BruneFranklin is one of those lucky people who seem to have managed to flourish during the lockdown. When the orders to shut everything down first hit, she was in a hotel room in Northern Ireland “drilling” lines from Line of Duty into her head. When word came through that the set was shutting down, she was on the first plane back to Sydney, her head “spinning from the speed it all happened at”.
The lockdown has been anything but difficult for the 25-year-old star, though. After several years of non-stop working, she was due a break, she tells me: “Secretly my inner introvert homebird has loved it. It was great to be home.”
Her career has also climbed to new heights even as the pandemic shut the world down: after starring in the BBC series Our
Girl, Radio Times recently named her one of the brightest young actresses in the world, and she is currently starring in Netflix’s big-budget series, Cursed. Adapted from Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller’s bestselling book of the same name, it’s an epic, 10-episode retelling of the Arthurian legends, with magic spells, folklore and epic battles.
Unlike previous depictions of the legends, Cursed has a decidedly feminist bent, with female characters taking centre stage, and Shalom says this was important to her.
“The characters in Arthurian legends are fascinating but they’ve never really been led by a women,” she says. “The pilot gave me Xena (Warrior Princess) vibes, which I loved growing up. I think it’s the right time for the series in other ways too. Game of Thrones brought me, and many others, back into fantasy and made that whole area more mainstream. So I’m really excited to see what people think of it.”
Unlike many starlets, there were no pushy stage parents or silver spoons for Shalom, who grew up on a council estate near London.
“We lived in a little flat and I shared a room with my brother my whole life,” she tells me. “I like to say my mum was a hustler but she was a nail technician and braided people’s hair and my dad worked for an electrical distribution company. We got by, I would say. It definitely wasn’t a lavish upbringing, but there was a lot of love and we were really close as a family.”
When she was 15, her parents decided to move to Perth in Australia.
“I remember my mum saying she would rather struggle by the sea than struggle in a little flat in England. They felt that their surroundings were holding them back, and the change of scene just gave them the drive to do what they really wanted to do. My dad became a chef and my mum got into bodybuilding and got an incredible job with the government. They got their dream in the sun.”
The upheaval and leaving all her friends behind was difficult, she says, but it was also formative. “It’s such an awkward time to lose all your friends but in a sense I think it was also the making of me. It psychologically prepared me for acting, which involves picking up your life and moving somewhere else at various points.”
Inspired by her parents’ determination, she enrolled in the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts; she says it was only there that she really became aware of how her race influenced people’s perception of her.
“I became aware of my skin colour only when I got into drama school. There was this constant acknowledgement of what I look like and I was thinking ‘oh, I’m just this person doing the work’. I couldn’t believe how much it came into it. In a way, though, it was a good preparation for the industry.”
She graduated from drama school with a Hugh Jackman scholarship for the most outstanding performer. One of the first big roles she got after leaving college was as an Irish nurse,
Aoife, in the Australian series Doctor Doctor. She says she still cringes when she thinks back on her attempt at an Irish accent.
“I hope that doesn’t get dug up and I get messages about it,” she says, adding that her favourite TV series of all time is Love/Hate.
Early on in her career, she suffered from “impostor syndrome”, she says. “I always thought they’d figure out this wasn’t really what I do for a living. There was one particular reading where I had a bit of a breakthrough. I had a moment where I sort of owned my space and thought I had a right to be there and decided I wouldn’t let nerves rule me. I quite literally had a seat at the table.”
Her career went from strength to strength — she is soon to star in David Hare’s political thriller Roadkill, alongside Hugh Laurie — but she rejects the idea that it was all a gilded passage of continual success.
“There was one part I was so close to and I thought it was mine. It was a lesson to me that everyone in the room can tell you you’re perfect and you’re the one, but you’re actually not until you’re on the set performing. I remember being told it was a no and being so heartbroken.
“There were some really dodgy reasons around why, and as I got the bus home, I just started bawling my eyes out, and this guy,
‘I just started bawling my eyes out, and this guy — a total stranger — turned to me and said whatever it is, it will get better with time. He was like an angel and I couldn’t even thank him and I kept crying. And yet he was right...’
a total stranger, turned to me and said whatever it is, it will get better with time. He was like an angel and I couldn’t even thank him and I kept crying. And yet he was right. What’s for you won’t go by.”
The constant work-related travel has made relationships difficult but she’s currently very happy in a long-distance relationship.
“When you find the right person, you’d be surprised how easy it is. The long distance also makes those times when we are together more special and fun.”
Her return from Australia to Ireland is still up in the air and will depend on Covid-related restrictions on filming. “I feel very lucky that things are going well. I know that when everything starts up again, I’ll be able to pick up where I left off,” she says. “I think when I was a teenager, I’d have found spending so much time at home challenging but now I really love it. I cherish every day.”
Cursed is streaming now on Netflix